Roberts: McCain disses Ducey (again) on health care

On Friday, Arizona Senator John McCain, who delivered the final blow to the previous attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, said he will vote no against his party's current healthcare plan.
USA TODAY

Laurie Roberts: Sen. John McCain says he needs to know the impact of Graham-Cassidy before he can vote for the Obamacare replacement. Imagine that.

It’s not that McCain doesn’t like at least parts of the Graham-Cassidy bill. What he doesn’t like is the one-sided, hurry-up-and-pass-this-thing strategy employed to ram it through Congress before we even know what it does. (And neither should his colleagues. And neither should you.)

Something this big needs bipartisanship

“I would consider supporting legislation similar to that offered by my friends Senator Graham and Senate Cassidy if it were the product of extensive hearings, debate and amendments … ,” McCain said in a statement.

“We should not be content to pass health-care legislation on a party-line basis, as Democrats did when they rammed Obamacare through Congress in 2009. If we do so, our success could be as short-lived as theirs when the political winds shift, as they regularly do. The issue is too important and too many lives are at risk for us to leave the American people guessing from one election to the next whether and how they will acquire health insurance. A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.”

McCain went on … “Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums and how many people will be helped or hurt by it.”